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Behind the epidemic of police killings in America: Class, poverty and race
Mateus, Benjamin
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2018/12/20/kil1-d20.htmlDate Written: 2018-12-20 Publisher: World Socialist Website Year Published: 2018 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX24749 Article examines root causes and socioeconomics dimension of police violence, with particular stress on the importance of class. Abstract: - Excerpt Despite the overwhelming evidence of the role of socio-economic factors related to the class structure of American society, the Democratic Party and its affiliates like Black Lives Matter, the Democratic Socialists of America and other pseudo-left organizations hide behind a racial narrative to account for the crisis of police violence and attempt to enforce reform measures such as ensuring that the demographics of the police force mirror the communities they "serve". The truth is that a black policeman in Detroit is not serving black people or the "black community," he is serving General Motors, Detroit Edison, Comecia Bank and the rest of the capitalist class, playing the same role as a white policeman. And as a point of fact, blacks make up 12 percent of the police force nationwide, roughly the same as their proportion in the population. The pseudo-left groups promote racialist conceptions to defend the capitalist economic system in which their own material interests are rooted, one in which a tiny fraction of the population, less than one percent, controls the vast bulk of the resources and relies on the police as a vital line of defense for its wealth and privileges. Subject Headings |